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S GGE-'TIONS ON THE PREYENTION OF TUBERC LOSI A8
\VE KNO\V IT TO-DAY.
BY -, ,,'E, TRAY BATTLE, :.\[. D., OJ;~ ASHEVILLE, N. C., lIE~I BE1> OE THE
XORTH C.\ROLTXA BOARD OF HEALTH.
~VIR. CFIAIRjlA:-I;-In calling the attention of this Board to the consid­eration
of measures to prevent the spread of the hydra-headed monster,
tuberculosi. , I wish to preface my remark by disclaiming any intention
of being other than consenati ve. It i. so easy to become an alarmist,
and when backed up by bald facts and figures, such as the history of
tuberculosis offers, he must be phlegmatic indeed who is not stirred to
his inmost sonl by the contemplation of the ravages of con umption.
The brief remark I shall make wlll simply be intended to open the
discus ion on the subject now agitating the world. '0, then, )11'. hair­man,
I ,Yant to know ·what we are going to do about the greatest. courge
the human race has ever kno\yn? \Vhat are ,,,e going to do about a
disea e which annually ca rrie off 7,000,000 people, and, coming closer
home, strikes down 150,000 inhabitants of the United 'tates, and, closer
still, cal1c::es the death of not less than 4,000 people in the State of North
Carolina? Think of it, within our sparsely ettled borders ten deaths
occur pel' diem from this dire malady, and yet we complacent.ly move on,
scarcely giving it a thought. It is simply consumption-we are nsed to
that. It is part and parcel of our existence, we say. Still, let yellow
fever or cholera threaten our borders, and town, county, date and Fed­eral
Government are np in arms and ready to spend any amount of
money; yet this epidemic is nothing compared to the great epidemic of
tuberculosis, which causes more death ' per annum than all the other
contagious and infectious diseases combin ed. Contemplate 300,000 tons
of consumptive bodies to be buried annually-just think of it! And
think of the billion and billion ' of vigorous bacil li tuberculosis which
lie under the surface of the earth , whose life-term is anywhere from five
to twenty-five years. Bacilli have been found in the earth from ceme­teries
where inhumation has not been practiced for twenty-five years.
I it strange that consumption is increa8ing? And i . it any wonder that
with our present knowledge of the ommunicabilit.y of this disease
the attention of every sanitarian is diTected towards its suppre..;sion,
since it is conclusively proyen that rather more than one-se\'enth of the
entire mortality of the world is directly traceable to it?
In order that we may the more intelligently devise ways and means
for its prevention, let us briefly revi w the ::etiology of tuberculosis and
'-:I-- the manner in which it affects tbe human specie8,
0-.
~
'J)

S GGE-'TIONS ON THE PREYENTION OF TUBERC LOSI A8
\VE KNO\V IT TO-DAY.
BY -, ,,'E, TRAY BATTLE, :.\[. D., OJ;~ ASHEVILLE, N. C., lIE~I BE1> OE THE
XORTH C.\ROLTXA BOARD OF HEALTH.
~VIR. CFIAIRjlA:-I;-In calling the attention of this Board to the consid­eration
of measures to prevent the spread of the hydra-headed monster,
tuberculosi. , I wish to preface my remark by disclaiming any intention
of being other than consenati ve. It i. so easy to become an alarmist,
and when backed up by bald facts and figures, such as the history of
tuberculosis offers, he must be phlegmatic indeed who is not stirred to
his inmost sonl by the contemplation of the ravages of con umption.
The brief remark I shall make wlll simply be intended to open the
discus ion on the subject now agitating the world. '0, then, )11'. hair­man,
I ,Yant to know ·what we are going to do about the greatest. courge
the human race has ever kno\yn? \Vhat are ,,,e going to do about a
disea e which annually ca rrie off 7,000,000 people, and, coming closer
home, strikes down 150,000 inhabitants of the United 'tates, and, closer
still, cal1c::es the death of not less than 4,000 people in the State of North
Carolina? Think of it, within our sparsely ettled borders ten deaths
occur pel' diem from this dire malady, and yet we complacent.ly move on,
scarcely giving it a thought. It is simply consumption-we are nsed to
that. It is part and parcel of our existence, we say. Still, let yellow
fever or cholera threaten our borders, and town, county, date and Fed­eral
Government are np in arms and ready to spend any amount of
money; yet this epidemic is nothing compared to the great epidemic of
tuberculosis, which causes more death ' per annum than all the other
contagious and infectious diseases combin ed. Contemplate 300,000 tons
of consumptive bodies to be buried annually-just think of it! And
think of the billion and billion ' of vigorous bacil li tuberculosis which
lie under the surface of the earth , whose life-term is anywhere from five
to twenty-five years. Bacilli have been found in the earth from ceme­teries
where inhumation has not been practiced for twenty-five years.
I it strange that consumption is increa8ing? And i . it any wonder that
with our present knowledge of the ommunicabilit.y of this disease
the attention of every sanitarian is diTected towards its suppre..;sion,
since it is conclusively proyen that rather more than one-se\'enth of the
entire mortality of the world is directly traceable to it?
In order that we may the more intelligently devise ways and means
for its prevention, let us briefly revi w the ::etiology of tuberculosis and
'-:I-- the manner in which it affects tbe human specie8,
0-.
~
'J)